COLLEGE STATION — While Big 12 play never has been a stroll in the park for any program, Texas A&M is entering the nation’s toughest football playground next season in the Southeastern Conference.

That’s one reason, in fielding a squad loaded with seniors and alleged talent, the Aggies were angling to make noise in their final swing through the Big 12. Instead, A&M fans are left yelling for — and, of late, yelling at — perhaps the most disappointing program in football this season.

All thanks to three second halves that have meant the difference between a top-10 ranking to finally plunging from the Top 25 this week.

“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, it’s just not how it’s worked out,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said Monday. “You have to be truthful with yourself and move forward. Should we have won those games? Yes. But we didn’t, and we have to pick up the pieces.”

Tannehill and his fellow seniors won’t soon forget the manner in which the Aggies (5-3, 3-2 Big 12) dropped from a No. 7 ranking a week into the season to out of the rankings for the first time in nearly a year: by blowing double-digit halftime leads to Oklahoma State, Arkansas (currently ranked third and seventh, respectively) and unranked Missouri (38-31 in overtime on Saturday).

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The Aggies led the Cowboys 20-3, the Razorbacks 35-17 and the Tigers 28-17 at halftime, only to be outscored 80-15 after the break. Meaning, the offense and defense are each about as responsible for the most embarrassing six quarters of A&M football since Oklahoma and Missouri outscored A&M 99-6 over six straight quarters in 2003.

If the Aggies could pinpoint the root of their malfunctions, the outlook for the rest of the season would be a bit clearer around the Bright Building this week, starting with their 2:30 p.m. game Saturday at No. 6 OU. But they can’t.

“We haven’t been able to come up with just one thing and point at it like, ‘That’s it, that’s why we’re losing,’” senior defensive end Tony Jerod-Eddie said. “It’s been a lot of things. We don’t get enough takeaways in the second half — or at all. We don’t play the run as well as we did in the first half, and we give up too many explosive plays.

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“There are a lot of things we can point to and say that was a reason we didn’t win.”

From his side of the ball, Tannehill agreed that it’s a complicated prognosis.

“I don’t know what the single biggest problem is — we just haven’t been making plays,” he said. “Slight mistakes end up causing big mistakes that throw off the timing of the play. You miss a throw here, drop a ball there, miss a block here — it all adds up. If one guy misses on this play and another on the next, it starts snowballing.”

Now, coach Mike Sherman will try and prevent a snowball of losing, considering A&M plays its next two on the road at OU and Kansas State. The Aggies were 5-3 through eight games last year as well and wound up 9-4. But that team featured then-senior linebackers Von Miller and Mike Hodges, two exceptional leaders who backed up their bravado with strong play.

This year? The last third of the season will determine whether A&M can somewhat salvage an already disappointing final Big 12 campaign. Truth is, however, the senior-heavy Aggies were supposed to make their last run in the Big 12 memorable for something other than second-half collapses.

“If the players aren’t angry or upset, they’re in the wrong business and shouldn’t be playing football for us,” Sherman said. “At the same time, we have a phenomenal challenge this week up in Norman, and we can’t wallow in despair, we have to move forward.

“The true measure of a team is its ability to bounce back, and rise above it all.”